Well I guess if I'm awake at 3 a.m. having an allergy attack, I might as well enjoy myself...

It's been 3 years since Gilad Shalit was kidnapped.

We have failed him thus far. I pray we don't fail him for another 3 years or more.

(It has subtitles)

Almost every year, on 26 Nissan, the Army puts the town of Kifl Hareth under curfew to allow Jews to daven at the Kevarim (graves) of Yehoshua (Joshua) ben Nun, Calev (Caleb) ben Yefuneh and Nun himself. Until this year, Jews were admitted to the town from midnight until 4 a.m. or so. This year, the Army extended it from 10 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. Although they didn't actually allow people to start going into the town to walk to the Kevarim until 10:30 or so (and from the entrance it was about 20 minutes to walk to the Kevarim).

( Photos behind cut )

How far could you run in fifteen seconds?

How far can you run...

* when you're dressed and awake?
* when you're asleep?
* when you're pouring boiling water?
* when you're taking a shower?
* when you're diapering a squirming, dirty baby?
* when you're on the toilet?
* when you're...

Think of all the normal situations a person can be in during twenty-four hours... think of growing up with this as a daily occurrence for the past 7 years.

HT: Batya @ Shilo Musings

Read all about the water buffalo dairy in Israel over at Israeli Kitchen.

Wish I'd known about this place when we had a car... this sounds like a cool place!

Swedes relocate West Bank firm
Oct. 23, 2008
Tovah Lazaroff , THE JERUSALEM POST

In an unusual situation for the West Bank's Barkan Industrial Park, which so far has largely escaped the pressure of international boycotts, a Swedish-based locksmith company that operates a factory there announced this week that it was relocating to within the Green Line for political reasons.

"We're leaving because [the industrial park] is in the West Bank," Ann Holmberg, spokeswoman for the Assa Abloy company, told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Sweden on Thursday.

Assa Abloy, which acquired the Yavneh-based firm Mul-T-Lock in 2000, also purchased a subsidiary plant at that time in the Barkan Industrial Park, which is located more than 10 kilometers over the Green Line, near Ariel.

The company, Holmberg said, was remiss in not understanding the significance of the location until last month, when the point was hammered home by a report issued jointly by the Church of Sweden, aid group Diakonia, and SwedWatch, a nonprofit group that monitors the conduct of Swedish businesses.

( You mean it took someone in the company EIGHT YEARS to look at a damn map???? )